diff --git a/lib/escape.c b/lib/escape.c
index 87d3a79e27e6df1379752bfc13ec629d2230f64b..600cece7cb98d06d155d2a65d8a20938b032290e 100644
--- a/lib/escape.c
+++ b/lib/escape.c
@@ -126,5 +126,6 @@ char *curl_unescape(const char *string, int length)
    the library's memory system */
 void curl_free(void *p)
 {
-  free(p);
+  if(p)
+    free(p);
 }